Monday, June 18, 2018

I Did It

Yesterday was Fathers' Day. In the week leading up to this Sunday, Brian and I talked a lot about the importance of fathers, but also, on this Sabbath Day, remembering our Heavenly Father and his abundant gifts. He invited ward members to find ways to honor our Heavenly Father on this special day.

At church, in prayers, I heard more than ever before a gratitude that we know that God is our father and that we are His spirit children. It was said several times throughout the day, and I was grateful for this reminder.

After the sacrament the Primary children sang a couple of Fathers' Day songs. They are simple, common songs, but it was wonderful to hear how well the primary children sang them. As they finished and the first children started to return to their seats, a little Sunbeam standing right in front said, "Daddy, I did it!" I don't know if she was nervous to go sing in front of the congregation or not, but it was easy to see that she felt the joy of this success, and it was so cute to see her eagerness to share this success with her daddy.

I thought about the Savior, who at the very en of his life pronounced, "It is finished." (John 19:30), confirming that He had completed all that the Father had asked Him to do. I thought about how really a similar experience is something I long for. I look forward to the time I return to my Father in Heaven. I hope to bow before him and to be able to say, "I did it. I did my very best. I fulfilled the work you needed me to do." What a joyful experience that will be!

And then in Relief Society I read this quotation from the talk we were discussing with new eyes.

“When you … see our Father,” Brigham Young described, “you will see a being with whom you have long been acquainted, and he will receive you into his arms, and you will be ready to fall into his embrace and kiss him.” (Am I a child of God? by Elder Brian K. Taylor)